In keeping with Kingston's STEM goals, students worked to design the tallest building they could usenig only candy corn and toothpicks. As you can see by the pictures, students had to overome a variety of handicaps, inluding candy corn that easily broke.
As a part of the Earth, Moon, Sun unit wrap up, students created mind-maips to show what they had learned and show relationships between the Earth, Moon, and Sun.
Math is the language of science and we've combined both in this lesson designed to help students understand the comparative sizes of the planets. The teams worked wtih fractions and measurement to divide the clay into the appropriate sized pieces for each planet. After so much work, students were amazed at the comparative size of the sun to the rest of the planets and of the gas planets to the terrestrial planets.
Our first lesson together this year was to develop their understanding of the concept of relationships and discover generalizations about it. After brainstorming as many things as they can about things that are related, student grouped the items into categories. Studemts will use these relationship generalizations to discover how different things they are learning are related, find how all relationships are purposeful, and in what ways relationships change over time. Attached are pics of the student dicussing various ways to group their ideas.
Mrs. Teufel, Ms. Klee, the students, and I are enjoying the new gifted resource, Changing Tomorrow: Leadership Curriculum for High-Ability Elementary Students. Students are learning so much about the leadership qualities of others such as Walt Disney, Ben Carson, Amelia Earhart, and Tecumseh. As they learn about each of the leaders, they also consider to what degree they (the students) have these qualities like motivation, vision, empathetic listening, and taking action.
Rotation or revolution? Mrs. Teufel and Ms. Klee's classes revolved and rotated Styrofoam Earth balls and moons around lightbulb suns to explore details and patterns in the shadowing of each. Students used the language of scientists, discussed the impact of multiple perspectives (view from Earth, space, and moon, and had a wonderful time.
The deliberate inclusion of Kaplan prompts (the words in italics) helped us add depth and complexity to the lesson. Some students even discovered rules that govern relationships between the Earth, Moon, and Sun. Discoveries included that half the Earth and Moon are always light and the other half is dark, that we see only the lighted side of the moon and that's why we have moon phases, and that both suns and lit lightbulbs are really hot. It's a good thing we discussed safety first and there were no accidents by our Jr. scientists! For many students, this hands activity delivered an AHA! moment as they finally saw for themselves how the position of the moon caused moon phases. This activity opens the Earth, Moon, and Sun Relationship unit. Students also discussed how scientists use models to help them understand and explain concepts and objects that are either too small or too large to be seen and studied, like cells and solar systems. You can read more about Sandra Kaplan's thoughts on depth and complexity here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVrUupDR1ss and more information at: http://envisiongifted.com/understanding-depth-and-complexity.html |
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October 2016
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